You've Made Your Bed . . .

Even before the kidnapping, life was kind of crazy around my household. Getting ready for the wedding consumed much of our time, of course. We also had a relatively busy season of summer teams, including one team which was scheduled just two weeks before the wedding. Prior to the arrival of our out-of-town guests, we had to rearrange our warehouse/home so that it was a bit more home, and less warehouse - as much as is possible! Rachel was also packing and sorting for her move into her first home of her own, which was a very big deal for my oh-so-domestic daughter! She's been collecting and making items toward this end for several years, and now it was time to pack up her dishes and bakeware, cast iron pans and handmade braided mats, her quilted wall hangings and her few items of furniture.

In the midst of everything else, Rachel was also making a bed. She had seen a photo of a bed online that she liked, and she and Allen had been working on this project for months. First, they had to plan out what wood they needed, and purchase the lumber during one of our trips to San Pedro Sula. The lumber, when we get it, is very rough - there was a long process of sorting through the lumber, choosing which pieces would be appropriate (straight and untwisted enough) for the long supports, and which pieces were more knot-free to use in the most highly visible parts, etc. Then it all had to be cut and planed and sanded and sanded and sanded some more. I know there are photos of this part of the work, but they're not on the laptop I have with me on my travels, so I can't post those.

Of course, as we ramped up into near-panic mode in the weeks just before the wedding, the time spent on the carpentry also had to increase, to have the bed ready in time for Rachel's move to her new home!

With all the kidnapping excitement, the trip to Tegucigalpa with all of Rachel's household goods was delayed a bit. The bed parts, and all the hardware to put the bed together, left our house without us ever seeing the final, put together bed. I'll nag Rachel to send a photo of her homemade bed, installed in her new house . . . but since she doesn't have internet it may be a while before I get anything back from her! Hopefully you can get some idea, from these photos of parts of the bed, how nice it will be!